August NPD: US game industry still in decline by 16%

The NPD numbers are in for the month of August, and the industry saw its sixth consecutive month-over-month decline, what with the 16 percent slip year-on-year.

While this is an improvement over the past few month, the decline can only be combated by climbing 14 percent aggregate for 2009 to “come in flat in comparison to 2008 sales,” says NPD Group’s Anita Frazier.

Combined sales of accessories, hardware, and software, and accessories totaled $908.72 million, which compared to $848.9 million in July, shows improvement, if only slight.

Accessories were only category to experience an increase over last year’s sales, and this surge in sales of peripherals and controllers owes thanks in part to the upward trend in hardware sales.

With the price cuts for PS3 and Xbox 360 just getting started, next month’s figures should prove to be more interesting, indeed.